Honeybees of Solomon by. Justice K.T. Thomas

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  This book contains reminiscences of the Author as Judge for twenty-five years. Apart from a few travelogue and acquaintances with personages, the descriptions are live stories of human life displayed in different courts where he was judge. The author has avoided narrating matrimonial disputes due to statutory constraints. The narratives have been recollected from memory. Yet care was taken to mention only true facts, though all truths are not included, lest, it might injure the feelings of others. This is intended only for the readers to have easy reading on some interesting episodes of human life.   

About Author

Judge of the Supreme Court of India He was directly recruited from the Bar as District Judge and after eight years elevated as High Court Judge. After being Judge of the Supreme Court for six years he retired in 2002.
After retirement he was appointed Chairman of different Commissions such as, for fixing fees in professional colleges, for recommending reforms of police performance, for recommending reforms in the law regarding prevention of destruction of public properties and lastly the Commission for National Law School Bangalore. He is now Honorary Professor in Kannur University on Constitutional Law. He has delivered many lectures on topics of legal and Constitutional importance at different centres in India.
The President of India conferred Padma Bhushan Award on him for Law and Justice on the Republic Day 2007. He has already authored three books in his vernacular.
Justice K.T. Thomas was a

Contents

       Foreword.

       Introduction

1. The raison d’etre of the nomenclature
2. Ascension as a Judge
3. Moulding up into Judgeship
4. The first murder case tried in my Court
5. Calicut District Court
6. Back in Calicu
7. Betheri Case
8. A case of double infanticide
9. How a submerged equity winched to the fore
11. Winding up life in Calicut
12. District Judge, Quilon
13. The Dead body giving birth to a child
14. Half burnt dead body of a pregnant woman.
15. Two cases of restoration of gender justice
16. Assignments declined, but became a litigant
17. District and Sessions Judge, Trivandrum
18. Judge of the High Court.
19. Nascency on the Bench of the High Court
20. A few among the memorable cases.
21. Divorces granted by Church Tribunals
22. Non-Brahmins as priests of temples.
23. Elected Panchayats were restored in Kerala
25. A Professor escaped from disaster.
26. What is the right of litigants to occupy seats in court rooms?
27. Re-writing a judgment
28. King of Saudi Arabia as defendant
29. As a senior judge of the High Court.
30. As Chief Justice (Officiating.)
31. Pangs of elevation
32. Farewell from High Court
33. Becoming Judge of the Supreme Court of India
34.Ostracised bungalow to reside in and a scholarly
35. Sittings in the early days of judgeship in the Supreme Court
36. The travails of a non-resident husband.
37. Eleven Judge bench and minority rights
38. Sitting with the Chief Justice of India
39. Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
40. The fall of a Rajasthani bride from the top floor of a
41. The Extortionists of Bow Bazar in Calcutta.
42. A treasure hunt.
43. Regarding treatment of witnesses
44. Can the destiny be so cruel to a damsel ?
45. A charlatan in black robe.
46. An Advocate was convicted for contempt of court
47. Travelogue
48. Attack on the Parliament House fizzled out
49. The last sitting as a Judge
50. Prelude to departure
51. Farewell to Law.

Foreword

                          [Mr. Justice Y.V. Chandrachud – former CJI]

There is a strong current of social thought which tries to discover and identify a variety of alternatives to litigations in courts. Indeed, justice without law was a living reality for our distinguished patriots and social reformers, centuries ago. My reason for being happy with alternate dispute resolution in the form of arbitration is entirely personal. Were there no arbitrations, I would never have met Mr. Justice K. T. Thomas. And, had I not met Justice Thomas as a co-arbitrator, I would have missed a precious experience. In Justice Thomas as an individual, I met a genial and genuine gentleman. And, in Justice Thomas as a co-arbitrator, I met a painstaking companion who took copious notes of arguments, cited Supreme Court judgments of the cuff and, placed justice on a pedestal higher than what the rigours of the letter of law demand.
 It has been a pleasure to go through “Honeybees of Solomon”. The judgments delivered by Justice Thomas in some of the cases mentioned in the book show that the Almighty did send Honeybees to him whenever he needed guidance to discern the just from the unjust, making his task Divine-oriented. Kerala Bar gave him a full Court welcome on his appointment as a Judge of the Kerala High Court. On 16th March 1996 when Justice Thomas was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India, the President of Kerala Court Advocates Association, Shri S. Gopakumaran Nair said in the farewell function that it is rarely that one comes across.
 Finally, I would be failing in my duty if I did not refer to the gracious hospitality of Mrs.Tharuni Thomas. My wife Prabha remembers it nostalgically. I believe, good wives make good husbands, god lawyers make good judges and Honeybees help discern the just from the unjust. I pray that Destiny may continue to bless Justice K.T. Thomas and S. Tharunitai with more and more Honeybees.
   MUMBAI
   Dated: 8th June 2007
 
Justice Y. V. CHANDRACHUD     

Former Chief Justice of India 

Introduction

I never had any intention, nor even the idea, of writing a book until I demitted office as judge of the Supreme Court of India. It was quite usual for judges to aspire assignments after superannuation from judgeship. I felt differently. I longed to go back to my hometown to live the remaining life. But then what would I do there? In that context the idea sprouted in my mind to scribble down the memories of judge-life. Before I embarked on this work a different thought winched to the fore – why not first write about the experiences at the Bar? I was mostly a trial lawyer and hence some of the cases handled by me, civil or criminal, had the trappings of thrill and sensation. So I wrote down, in my mother tongue (Malayalam) a brief account of how I became a lawyer and how the pangs of a junior got eventually transformed into contentment during later years of the profession. Those scrawls crystallized into the shape of a book titled “Before reaching the seat of Justice”, It was published by DC Books, a very renowned publisher in Kerala.
Though I started writing the present book soon after retirement from the Supreme Court I could complete it only now, not because of its size but due to other engagements in the meanwhile. On completion I requested Mr. Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, the oldest among the former Chief Justices of India for the longest period in history. I have always enjoyed reading
we both sat together for long on an arbitration panel. This acquaintance gave me the opportunity to see the noble and graciously humble personality in him. I recall that it was Mr. Justice Chandrachud as Chief Justice of India who approved the recommendation for my elevation as judge of the High Court of Kerala. These are the grounds which persuaded me to request him to write the foreword. I am grateful to him for acceding to my request.
Among the publishers, I chose M/s. Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi as they are among the renowned publishers in this country. I thank them for agreeing to print and publish this.
The entire manuscript was taken down and transcribed by Mr. N. Thomaskutty, my secretary. I place on record my appreciation and gratitude to him.
  Justice K.T. Thomas   
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